Taltal: Where Everyone Knows Your Name

So I almost didn't go to Taltal. It would probably have been the biggest mistake of my trip. I had been hanging out in San Pedro working on my grad school applications and trying to get this workaway set up. It had all sounded positive but then I never got the final confirmation from Héctor. Discouraged but antsy to move on, I booked a bus ticket to La Serena only to get a call from Héctor an hour before I was supposed to leave, apologizing and saying the email got saved in drafts and was never sent, was I still coming? I told him I'd think about it because it would mean either changing my plans and losing the bus ticket I had bought, or backtracking North 10 hours from La Serena. Remembering that my friend Bob from Oxapampa had highly recommended this workaway, I decided it was worth the backtrack and so after a couple days in La Serena and the Valle Elqui I headed back up the coast. I was immediately glad I did.

Street art in the Valle de Elqui

First of all the school. Héctor has started a free English schools for people of all ages. Basically whoever wants to learn English is welcome. That means there was a variety of classes every day, ranging from 4 year olds at the daycare to 50 year old ladies with all ages in between learning English. Héctor is a super enthusiastic teacher and very obviously passionate about his project. And all the students seem to love him. The town itself is also super lovely. It's small, around 11,000 people live here, and it's definitely got a small town feel. It's almost impossible to walk around without running into somebody you know, and even if you manage that, don't worry you'll definitely have a 20 minute conversation with the shopkeeper of the store you're walking to. It's the kind of town where you know the owner of the coffee shop and they know your order. It's also the kind of town that's small enough that everyone knows your business: ie. "You're the girl that runs in the mornings! Do you run by the ocean? You should it's very pretty!" Pretty funny.

Church off the main Plaza

But most importantly everyone in Taltal is incredibly nice. Just wonderful, welcoming people. Héctor knows just about everybody in town and introduces you to everyone. So immediately upon arriving, you have a whole social group to hang out with and drink with (Chileans are big on alcohol and late nights - neither of which are my favorites as you all know but I played along pretty well). And as much as I felt incredibly fortunate to be here and so welcomed and included, the students (mostly the adults) were just as grateful the volunteers were here as well. It was actually pretty humbling to be told by one of the students that the presence of the volunteers, all foreigners from other countries, had totally opened his mind and made him realize that people from everywhere were still just people and still very nice. He told me that he used to not like the United States or the people from there or anything, until the volunteers started coming and he realized that the people were not the government. That the people were just like any other people. That's the whole point of traveling, it broadens not only your mind but the minds of people you meet.

Even though I was TAing several classes a day, I still had plenty of time for adventures. The most notable of course was when the magnitude 8.4 earthquake that hit down farther South triggered a tsunami warning. One of the other volunteers, Kate, and her boyfriend and I were sitting in the hostel eating cake (the third that different students had gifted her for her birthday - repeat, everyone here is so nice) when we heard alarms going off. We were unsure whether it was a drill or something until Héctor knocked on the door and told us we needed to evacuate, meet him at the meeting point, did we remember where it was? Yelling yes, Kate and I bolted out the door, not bringing anything while her boyfriend paused for his laptop. Of course there was no real hurry so it was just us two gringos sprinting through Taltal while everyone else strolled.  Silly gringos. Of course we didn't actually remember where the meeting point was so we just hung out on a high enough hill for a while until we started to feel a little silly and headed down to look for Héctor who of course had been asking people whether they had seen any gringos. The owner of the hostel we were staying in let us hang out at his house with his very nice family until it was determined that there was no real danger here. Unfortunately there was more damage farther South, the town next to La Serena, where I had just been, was pretty heavily damaged, the other two volunteers that arrived when I was here had been staying near there and were amazed and saddened by the damage they saw.

This alarm was nice the first time, not the following 50 screeches 

I also happened to arrive in Taltal just in time for their Fiestas Patrias, their national holidays. This was a four day long event here, and we were roped right in. I was informed I was going to be in a parade which was just fine with me. The daycare the school works with was marching and they needed all the hands they could get to help herd the children along. Everyone had traditional Chilean dress on and there happened to be extra dresses for Kate and me. One of the students braided my hair and extra traditional shoes were supplied. It was quite funny to march across the plaza while I'm pretty sure some officials from the military? inspected us. Good times.

Kate and I all dolled up for the parade 

We had lots of other fun activities too: kayaking on the Pacific, barbeques, watching the lunar eclipse, and lots of late nights laughing and talking. It would be so easy to stay and it's another place I'm quite sad to leave. I was sent off with presents, drinks, and lots of hugs. I'll definitely miss this place but time to get on the road again.